


Because we won an extra hour

by BloodyFlammable



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: But we love him for that, Don't we ?, Draco is a self-absorbed git, Established Relationship, M/M, Misunderstandings, Nightmares, Not to mention vain, Oblivious! Draco, POV Draco Malfoy, as always
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-31 23:43:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8598454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodyFlammable/pseuds/BloodyFlammable
Summary: On the coffee table in front of him laid half a dozen clocks and a no longer steaming cup of something. Why Harry needed all those muggle clocks in the first place was beyond Draco.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I had fun writing this, I hope you'll enjoy !  
> Betaed by Tdcat, thank you so so much sweetheart <3

The bed was empty. Draco opened an eye. The lack of sunshine in the room was enough of a clue as far as he was concerned.

 

 

The bed was empty and cold. What was Harry doing, up in the middle of the night ? It seems like they went to bed a couple hours ago, for fuck’s sake. He made up his mind, uncovered himself and Merlin’s beard! It was freezing. Surely enough to kill him or something. Eventually, Harry was going to come back, what was the point of self-torture?

 

 

The bed was still empty and cold and now Draco was worried. He got up, grabbed his pyjamas pants on the floor, and headed downstairs.

He found Harry in the drawing room. He was sitting on the green couch that matched his eyes, and, _Morgana_ , he was gorgeous. Leaning against the armrest, his chin resting on his left hand, he was looking through the window, his stomach rising up and down peacefully. Daydreaming, how ironic! His hair was its usual mess, not the just-woken-up one. Hadn’t the bloke gone to sleep at all? Draco wished the green eyes were looking at him. He wished he could run his fingers along the broad shoulders. He wished he’d come to the breathtaking man he was looking at, pinning him against the armrest. He wished he could lean against him, bare chest against bare chest, because obviously, the cad hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt before deciding to ruin Draco’s sleep.

On the coffee table in front of him lay half a dozen clocks and a no-longer-steaming cup of something. Why Harry needed all those clocks -not to mention _muggles ones_ \- in the first place, was beyond Draco. But now, it seemed Harry was collecting them in the middle of the night, instead of being in bed with a perfect man. That made no sense at all. Hell, all the clocks in  the house must be there, even some Draco was sure he had never seen, not to mention Draco’s own watch. And Harry didn’t even appear to be doing anything with them!

Draco left the door frame he was leaning against and smirked.

“You know, Potter, one would think you’d rather own a wizard clock, since, well, you’re a wizard.”

Harry’s head jerked up. Something flashed in his eyes. “You know I do.”

That was a mood killer. Of course Draco knew. There was the watch Harry found in Sirius’s room while restoring the house, but he hadn’t worn it a single time. Every time Draco asked him why, Harry grumbled something about it being too expensive for his clumsy self –he did break the one the Weasleys gave him for his 17th birthday, after all- but he knew there was more to the story. After all this time, Harry still blamed himself for Sirius’s death.

Draco could rattle off a few different biting lines, but he knew better. He had seen this look on Harry’s face enough times to know it wasn’t a time for teasing.

Draco closed the distance between them, joined Harry on the couch and gently cupped the man’s scratchy jaw.

Harry raised his chin and locked eyes with Draco. Merlin, he could swim in those eyes. “What’s on your mind, love?”

Harry bit his bottom lip, “Couldn’t sleep.” He buried himself in Draco’s open arms.

The nightmares weren’t showing up as often as they did right after the war, but they never failed to leave Harry panting and lost. Draco cursed himself. He should have come downstairs the first time he woke up. He should have known something was wrong. He tightened his grip around the man he loved.

After a while, Harry broke the hug, smiling shyly, “I’m alright now.”

He pressed his lips quickly on Draco’s, rose and left the room. “Do you want some tea? Mine must be cold by now,” he shouted from the kitchen.

Clearly, he didn’t hear Draco’s answer because he came back with a second mug and a steaming kettle. He poured some light black tea in both cups.

Draco took one and thanked his husband. “So, Harry, you were doing…?” He gestured towards the clock fest on the table.

“Oh, that. I had to do something with myself, to keep from thinking too much.” He grinned slyly. Draco knew how to read between the lines, a skill learned through parsing Harry's odd phrasing for years. So, Harry was turned on by the clocks. That was a weird kink, but what the hell, Draco had seen worse. He might as well play the game. He freed Harry's hand, put both their mugs on the table, leaned closer and whispered in Harry’s ear, “You spent time on yourself, huh?” He pressed his body against Harry’s, left hand supporting him and right hand enjoying the hot piece of flesh offered. He could feel his husband through the thin fabric of his pants. He traced Harry’s bottom lip with his tongue, and slightly bit it.

Draco wasn’t sure he understood the game, but, sure,he was going to enjoy it. “And, er, what time is it?”

Harry frowned, paused and looked at the clocks. “It’s three ten. I mean no, it’s two ten.”

The game wasn’t funny. Even Harry didn’t look like he was having fun anymore. “What are you on about?”

Harry had a small cough, “It was three ten. And, now, it’s two ten.”

“ _Harry_! What did you do?” He rose. Even as an Unspeakable, Draco hadn’t seen a proper time turner yet, and they had been made in his own department. Surely, the Aurors hadn’t the authorization level either. Those new versions were quite dangerous and therefore really restricted, weren’t they?

Harry gaped and blinked. Then, “What? I’m sorry, _what_?”

“You-- You--” Draco took a deep breath. “You used a time turner?” He couldn’t believe it.

“Of course not! Are you nuts?” Harry seemed genuinely surprised and offended by Draco’s insinuation. Draco must’ve missed something. He rubbed his left eyebrow and replayed the conversation in his head.

“You just told me you went back an hour.” The sleep deprivation wasn’t helping.

Harry paused, understanding flying through his eyes, and laughed. “Yeah, well, no. But I guess you could say the clocks did.” The laugh became a bark, some indistinct words emerging from Harry's mouth now and then.

Draco blinked. Apparently Harry was experiencing a hilarious private joke. He wondered if he was drunk.

“What do you mean?” He was annoyed. Certainly, he could enjoy the gag as well.

“I’ve just set the clocks back an hour, that’s what I’m telling you.” Harry managed to say after catching his breath.

Draco wondered if that was some kind of a prank. Harry must know he never looked at his watch when he needed the time, so the prank wouldn’t last long at all. Draco slowly grabbed Harry’s mug on the table. The cup smelled like regular tea, no trace of spirits from what he could tell. “Why on earth would you do that?” Draco whispered slowly.

Harry frowned. “What? Because it’s today.” He seemed confused, but the ghost of his laugh still remained on his face. The whole picture was quite disturbing.

Maybe he wasn’t drunk. Maybe he was just losing his mind. It’d make sense after all he’s been through. It ought to happen at some point; that wasn't the first time Draco contemplated the eventuality.

Seeing that he wasn’t getting an answer, Harry began to babble. “I have changed the hour, since it’s today. You know. The time change. It’s today, isn’t it? Merlin, did I get it wrong?”

Harry rose quickly and left the room. That must be it. Harry Potter’s nervous breakdown. Draco was here to see it happening and couldn’t do anything to prevent it. Before he could even think about following his newly-crazy-husband, Harry was back, carrying yesterday’s Prophet.

“See! 27th of October!” He was waving the newspaper in front of Draco’s face, eyes wide and grinning madly. “You scared me, I thought I was mistaking the day.” Harry laughed. Again. For obviously no reason.

Draco thought quickly. Whatever time it was, it was the middle of the night. He couldn’t just show up at Lovegood’s as he’s used to doing whenever Harry comes back home covered in blood from Aurors’ shite – a Malfoy know his manners. St Mungo’s wasn’t an option; he could see tomorrow’s headlines dancing in his head « Saviour of wizarding world went mad ». He’d have to wait until a decent hour to go to Lovegood’s.

He chose his words carefully and spoke slowly, with the sweet voice he usually saved for Teddy, “Er, Harry? I’m not sure I understand what you are saying. Could you please sit down and explain?”

Harry obliged and raised an eyebrow, opened his mouth then shut it. He had stopped laughing. Good. Maybe he understood something was wrong with his behaviour. Surely, Auror training taught him how to deal with mental failure. “What do you mean, you don’t understand? It's the 27th, I’ve changed to winter time.”

And now Harry was looking at Draco like he was the crazy person babbling nonsense. All trace of amusement was gone. He didn’t look insane anymore, he just looked… concerned. As if Draco were coming down with something, or was about to blow up sometime soon. Draco had never seen this look on Harry's face before. What if Draco were the one who was going mad? He had had his own share of trauma, obviously, plus it was the bloody middle of the night.

Harry broke the silence. “What’s wrong with you, Draco ? Surely, you’ve heard of the concept of DST.”

He frowned. The Chosen One wasn’t supposed to talk to him like he was some kind of ignoramus. On top of that, that was his fucking line. He remembered saying something exactly like that just yesterday. He must either have woken up in a parallel universe or be dreaming a really really weird dream. But if it was a dream, why all the clocks? And why hadn’t Harry  kept on snogging him ? That was it, he, Draco, was losing his mind. Draco Malfoy's nervous breakdown. He could see tomorrow’s headlines dancing in his head « Ex-Death Eater goes mad. »

Harry took his wrist and woke him from his thoughts. “Hello? Earth to Draco! Have you or have you not heard of the concept of daylight saving time?”

Draco blinked. “I haven’t.”

He hadn't. Had he? He was an ace in astronomy, back at Hogwarts -he was an ace in everything, to be accurate- but was positive he hadn’t heard anything about the sun saving time.

Harry seemed to be struggling to keep a blank face, and after giving it a fair fight, he burst into a hard laugh: harder, stronger, and even longer than the one from earlier.

After a while, when Harry was able to speak without giggling, he said “Oh, god, you’ve got to be kidding me. How did you function all these years?” The effort seemed to take every bit of willpower Harry had left, because his laugh was out of control again. This time, he managed to speak through his laughter, “Although _-giggle-_ I think it makes sense _-giggle-_ at the manor, the house elves must have - _more giggles_ \- set the clocks in time. _-giggle-_ And your Tempus always shows the right time, doesn’t it?” Will the prat stop the idiotic giggle? “But how have you not noticed?”

Harry’s laugh was Draco’s favourite thing on earth. But having Harry laugh at him was intolerable. “Potter, I have no idea what you are talking about. I demand you explain yourself immediately.”

It took Harry a few more minutes to recover. He took a sip of his now-cool tea, made a face, cleared his throat, and started to speak.

“Every year, the last Sunday of October, the standard time turns back one hour, and forward an hour in March. It happens in the middle of the night; that’s probably the reason you haven’t noticed before. Your watch must be spelled to do it automatically at 2am, because I haven’t been able to set it before that. And I guess, as a wizard, if no one tells you so, you can be oblivious to the whole thing.”

To Harry’s credit, all trace of mockery was gone during his explanation. He was even looking kindly at Draco. At some point, Harry removed his spectacles and cleaned them with the waistband of his pyjama pants. That helped Draco believe all that nonsense. A lot. After all, there was a believable substance to this story.

Draco hadn't realise Harry had stopped talking. When he did, he rapidly made eye contact with Harry. Draco could read many things in Harry’s eyes, and there was no teasing at the moment. Harry was waiting for a reaction. Draco quickly replayed Harry's words in his mind. Multitasking always had been his best skill. “You go back an hour, not like time travelling, but like when you change the time zone?” There was no way Draco would settle for this attempt of clarification. As far as humiliation goes, he’d rather have the full explanation.

Harry gave him a cheery smile, “Yeah, well, except that everyone changes the time around the world. Or at least almost everyone. I think.”

That didn’t make any sense. “What would they do that for?”

“Not would, do. It has existed for something around a century. It’s a muggle thing actually. They had the idea to move the clocks forward one hour in summer in order to adapt to the sunrise and set their daily work schedule. Something like that. And I think it has something to do with electricity.”

Draco remembered electricity; Granger explained it to him. Why didn’t she mention the time changing? “So the real time is the time during the winter?”

“Indeed!” Harry grinned, pleased with himself, Draco could tell. Because he fell for a prank? No, even Harry couldn’t come with an idea as fucked up as this.

“Alright, I believe you.” Harry kissed him on the cheek, still grinning. “So, are we going backwards or forwards today?”

“Backwards. Americans came up with a mnemonic, ‘spring forward, fall back’, it means…”

Draco cut him. “I think I got that one, Potter.” He took some time to toy with the concept. He may or may not remember some hints about changing the time through his life. Draco’s face lit with understanding, “That’s why Greg was one hour late in potions that day in fourth year! He said something about the hour. I thought everyone was laughing because his excuse was rubbish!”

“Well, it kinda was, wasn’t it.” Harry chuckled.

Draco frowned and pressed his lips into a thin line, “Fuck, it just occurred to me that even Greg knew about the time change.” Harry coughed, and Draco scowled at him, then raised an eyebrow. “Do you get up in the middle of the night twice a year to change the time on your stupid clocks?”

Harry blinked. “Of course not, you dork. I usually do it in the morning. I can’t believe you haven’t ever noticed.”

“Well, you know, I still don’t understand why you carry around all those clocks when you can cast a Tempus.”

They gently argued for some time. This wasn't the first time they had had this conversation. Teasing his husband was familiar ground, and eventually Draco forgot his previous embarrassment.

When they both tired of arguing, Harry chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. The muscles on his stomach moved with his arm, and Draco wet his lips. Harry caught the sight, and widened his eyes. That was Draco's cue. He reached for Harry's waist and leaned into a kiss. Harry's chin was rough, but his lips were soft. Draco ruffled Harry's top lip with his tongue, asking for permission. Harry parted his lips, and the tip of his tongue met Draco's. This exact moment signaled the end of his reticence. The strength of his feelings never failed to amaze him.  He melted into the kiss, taking everything Harry was willing to give. After what felt like hours, Draco remembered he had hands. He stroked Harry's left hip gently, and began to draw circles on the soft skin with his thumb. When Harry began to suck on Draco’s bottom lip, he decided he might as well use his left hand, and reached for Harry's neck, pulling them together.  Draco may be an oblivious moron, but he knew one thing for sure. He loved this man with all he had. And this gorgeous, fit, hot, and aroused man loved him back.

They broke apart. “So, er, we went back an hour, right?”

“That’s right.” Harry leaned in to resume their previous activity, but Draco stopped him.

He grinned. “Therefore, we gained exactly one hour?” Draco slipped his thumb under the waistband of his husband's pants. pure lust flashed through Harry’s eyes, and he nodded. Draco rose, grinning, and reached for Harry’s hand.

“I have an idea how we can use this extra hour.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are awesome!


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